This invention relates to the field of systems and methods for analysis of biological specimens such as tissue sections, blood, cell cultures and the like. More particularly, this invention relates to a system, method and apparatus for analysis of images of biological specimens which are stained with one or more fluorophores, at least one of which is a nano-crystalline luminescent semiconductor material known in the art as a “quantum dot.” This invention also relates to methods of presentation of quantitative data resulting from such analysis to a user.
It is known in the art that biological specimens, such as tissue sections from human subjects, can be treated with a stain containing an organic fluorophore conjugated to an antibody which binds to protein, protein fragments, or other targets in the specimen. The stained specimen is then illuminated with light and the stain fluoresces. A digital camera attached to a microscope is then used to capture an image of the specimen. The areas where the fluorophore/antibody combination became bound to the target of interest (e.g., proliferation protein produced by cancerous cells) appears as colored regions in the image of the specimen, with the color of the area dictated by the fluorescence spectrum of the fluorophore applied to the specimen. In addition to the visible spectrum, the fluorescence signal may be detected in the infra-red or ultra-violet regions, depending on emission spectrum of the particular fluorophore. A stain containing two or more fluorophores can also be applied to the specimen. These methods have a variety of uses, including diagnosis of disease, assessment of response to treatment, and development of new drugs to fight disease.
More recently, quantum dots have been developed as a stain material for biological staining and imaging applications. The use of quantum dots poses several advantages over traditional organic fluorophores for use in biological staining applications. These advantages include narrow emission band peaks, broad absorption spectra, intense signals, and strong resistance to bleaching or other degradation.
Prior art references disclosing quantum dots and their application to biochemical imaging applications include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,322,901, 5,990,749, and 6,274,323. Representative image capture and analysis systems and related methods are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,215,892 and 6,403,947 and published PCT applications WO 00/31534, WO 00/17808 and WO 98/43042. Other prior art of interest includes US Patent Application Publication US 2001/0033374 A1; US Patent Application Publication 2002/0001080 A1; Fountaine et al., Multispectral imaging of clinically relevant cellular targets in tonsil and lymphoid tissue using semiconductor quantum dots, Modern Pathology (2006) 1-11, and Huth et al., Fourier Transformed Spectral Bio-Imaging for Studying the Intracellular Fate of Liposomes, Cytometry Part A, vol. 57A pp. 10-21 (2004). The entire content of the above-cited references are incorporated by reference herein.